The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries Will Furlough Managers for One Day Per Month

The agency depends on general fund dollars to regulate workplace civil rights and wages. Other agencies are likely to cut soon, as well.

(Aaron Wessling)
By Nigel Jaquiss

In the first of what is likely to be a long string of such announcements, Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle today said she'd asked all managers at the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to take one day a month off unpaid until June 30, 2021. (That's the final day of the state's 2019-21 budget.)

Hoyle's agency, which polices civil rights and wage-related workplace complaints, has about 105 full-time employees and a budget of about $15 million a year.

About half of the agency's funding comes from the state's general fund, which depends heavily on income taxes—a source of revenue that will be devastated by COVID-19-related job losses.

Most state agencies report to Gov. Kate Brown, but Hoyle is an independently elected official and so can make her own budget decisions.

"The coronavirus pandemic has collapsed our economy," Hoyle said in a statement. "Today I am instituting one unpaid furlough day per month for managers in my agency. This is the Bureau of Labor and Industries' first step toward dealing with the significant budget shortfalls that our state will likely be facing. These furlough days will continue through June 2021, the end of the budget cycle.

"After the May budget forecast, we will have more information about the extent of future budget cuts," Hoyle continued. "These decisions will be difficult. In any scenario, I will continue to prioritize service to Oregonians—to workers who are wronged or face discrimination or harassment; to employers who need guidance; and to apprenticeship programs that will be critical as we rebuild our economy when the time comes."

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